Guest opinion: Partners in caring for mental health | Health

It?s perhaps difficult to imagine a place where residents are more conscientiously engaged in the pursuit and practice of good health than here in our local communities. There is ample evidence of this in our individual lives and our community life ? from networks of trails and bike lanes to farmers? markets to commercial health and fitness enterprises to hundreds of organizations and practitioners who provide care and services for virtually every aspect of personal health ? physical, spiritual, emotional and mental. We are fortunate to live in an environment of such health-enhancing abundance.

Despite this proximity and abundance, however, barriers to good health persist, especially for our friends and neighbors with low incomes or without insurance. This experience is particularly acute in the realm of mental health, where the social stigmas of poverty and mental illness may be exacerbated by the debilitating nature of illness itself.

Fifty years ago ? in 1962 ? the Daily Camera reported the opening of a mental health clinic on North Broadway in Boulder due to the efforts of a group of dedicated citizens that included physicians, educators, clergy, judges, businesspersons, attorneys and community volunteers.

Those community leaders envisioned a clinic, launched as an independent nonprofit, where people would receive treatment and care to restore and enhance mental health, irrespective of personal income or circumstance.

This year, Mental Health Partners is celebrating the 50th anniversary of that founding vision. As the community mental health center for Boulder and Broomfield counties, we continue to provide comprehensive, psychiatric services to people regardless of their ability to pay, even as the population of our service area has grown from just under 80,000 to more than 300,000 residents. We continue to develop financial support from private gifts, local organizations and government grants and programs.

Our determination to help people surmount barriers to mental health care is demonstrated through our working partnerships with more than 70 healthcare clinics, schools, nonprofit organizations, city and county agencies, and local employers. Some examples include:

teachers and staff at more than 30 Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley schools who help us identify and provide services for kids and their families who are experiencing emotional distress;

city and county staff who help us secure decent and affordable housing for people with persistent mental health concerns;

judges and court officers who enable us to provide treatment and care as a humane, helpful and hopeful alternative to incarceration for people with mental illness;

local business owners and company managers who provide employment opportunities for people seeking to regain their mental health and self-sufficiency as productive participants in the workforce;

family members, neighbors and human service agency staff who help us identify seniors who live independently but need mental health support for depression and other illnesses;

fellow practitioners at organizations like Boulder Community Hospital, Clinica and Salud who help us provide integrated and comprehensive health care for the people we serve in common;

The people we serve through these various partnerships represent the entire lifespan, from infants to seniors. More than 25 percent are age 18 or younger, and 15 percent are children under 13 years.

Mental illnesses may be no more prevalent than they were 50 years ago, but research has enhanced our understanding of brain function, led to earlier and more accurate diagnosis, enabled more successful treatment practices, and contributed to more effective medications. Even so, many people living with a mental health condition ? perhaps as high as 50 percent ? never seek or receive help due to stigma, lack of information, or cost.

We are grateful to serve a place where health-consciousness and interest in good health are so integrated in the life of the community. We consider all of you our partners as we work to ensure that mental health and wellness, and the dignity and quality of life that treatment makes available, are achievable for all of our friends and neighbors.

Barbara Ryan is the Chief Executive Officer of Mental Health Partners; Bill Myers is the Executive Director, Mental Health Partners Foundation.

Article source: http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_20807139/guest-opinion-partners-caring-mental-health

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